Gimnazjum Handlowe księży pijarów w Lidzie w latach 1929–1939. Szkoła tolerancji religijnej i narodowościowej
Jewish Students in a Piarist Business School in Lida, 1929–1939. School of Religious and National Tolerance

Summary/Abstract: This article presents the history of the business school run by the Piarist Fathers in Lida, which operated in 1929–1939. In the second half of the 1930s, 30 per cent of the students were non-Polish and non-Catholic, predominantly Jewish. The school is a little-known example of tolerance in a Catholic school. The Piarists also made efforts to turn their school into a fully co-educational establishment, an initiative that the Church authorities ultimately found objectionable. The author has already published on the subject (Gimnazjum Handlowe Księży pijarow w Lidzie w latach 1929–1939, jako przykład tolerancji religijnej [The Piarist Fathers’ Business School in Lida in 1929–1939 as an example of religious toleration]), but regrettably the article appeared in a journal with a very limited circulation. This is an expanded and amended version of that article. The article is based on sources from Polish and Lithuanian archives and the memoirs of two former students. The history of that business school, colloquially known as the handlowka [trade school], deserves to be remembered for its innovative teaching methods and the successful coexistence of people of different nationalities and religions.

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